Students in 200 middle schools and primary schools in the Chinese capital can now share information with peers in other schools and enjoy access to the Internet thanks to an information network linking schools that became operational Saturday.

According to Zhang Hongbo, director of the education network and information center in Beijing, the municipal government has allocated some 7,500 computers to hundreds of schools this year. In some schools there is one computer for every ten students, he said.

In addition, 70 million yuan (US$8.4 million) was used to set up 19 information broadcasting centers with filtering software to shield unhealthy content from the Internet. The information technology course was listed as required in junior middle schools this autumn.

(People?s Daily December 30, 2001)